Going out and telling it like it was, how he really felt, it just wasn't something Takeshi did. Bottle it up and keep it inside, that's how boys were supposed to be, right? If Viral was a guy then they'd get along by just fighting it out and letting off some steam, that was the way he'd always thought of it before. By fighting they'd get a mutual respect, and then they could be friends. What a completely idiotic way of looking at it. Now he was realizing in doing that he'd turned the Beastman into little more than a training dummy and nothing else, no wonder they were never on good terms. It was completely his fault too, he needed to try and say something to make it up to his friend. Only question was what the hell did you say to make up over a year of getting it wrong and pissing someone off?

"I did say I'm an idiot with words, to be fair..." Takeshi muttered halfheartedly, a sheepish smile on his face as he made his point, "You act surprised I screwed up, I've been doing that since we met." Opening up aside it wasn't normally like him to admit he was totally wrong either, being used to either being correct or simply ignoring something he couldn't make right. That worked well, looked how Shu was getting on because of that idiotic mindset. Nodding somberly at Viral's comment on fighting he glanced over at the others, having had the very same thought himself once or twice. If he couldn't fight then what would he do? He wasn't smart like Vegeta, he wasn't good at helping others like Vegeta. He didn't have skills like the twins, or money like Kabocha, and he wasn't like Shu were everyone he met was happy to help him. Hell he was sure even Haku had more going for him, and that kid had nothing! Realizing he was self-loathing he let out a sigh and rubbed at his head, giving it a shake before looking back at Viral.

"You're wrong, because we've done that before and you've won. Back on Earth, the first time we met? I didn't hold back, and you would have definitely won then. When we saw you on Shaharia you would have beaten me too, and you'd beat me now if we fought. I have Ki, sure, but it's not enough to just beat you, it never was." Yet he always used it like a crutch in fights and saw little to nothing come from its use. Was it handy? Of course, being able to zip about and attack from afar was a massive advantage. But for someone like Viral who could just endure it and beat you up close it meant little. "Viral, look... If we were to keep sparring right now the way we were there's no way I could win, Ki or not. I can tell you that much right now and you still don't think you're healthy, right? Okay, so what happens when you do get healthy? You're already stronger than I am, probably stronger than most of us again, and you'll be even stronger still after you finish recovering. Pretty soon you'll be the one saving all of us. And... That's what I envy about you, that you can be so strong despite everything. It's why I think you're an awesome guy, you have a kind of... I don't know, a kind of strength the rest of us don't." MAN that sounded really fricken cheesy, and Takeshi's face was a bright red as he thought about it. Could they just get back to punching each other?